Abstract
Robert Grosseteste’s commentary on the six days of creation, the Hexaemeron, is one of his most extensive and detailed theological works. Composed during his time as bishop of Lincoln, it draws on earlier lectures, notably those on Genesis, and his scientific treatises. In the Hexaemeron Grosseteste provides a powerful definition of theology, arguing that it should not be identified as a science, but in the course of this definition deploying Aristotelian definitions with great skill. The Hexaemeron displays to the full the depth of range of Grosseteste’s reading, and provides, in its commentary on creation, the fulfillment of his earlier work, placing investigation of natural phenomena in the service of exegesis. This paper will explore pertinent themes for Grosseteste’s use of his earlier writing, and the implications of their subsequent interpretation. Nature, Creation and their interpretation by human reason allow Grosseteste wide scope for commentary, all grounded in the proper subject of theology, the unifying work of Christ.
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Notes
- 1.
The scientific works have occasioned most efforts at relative chronologies notably Dales (1961) McEvoy (1983) and Southern (1992). Panti has provided their suggestions in tabular form, together with her own tentative chronology (2013). The major dissenting voice to this broad chronology is Southern’s, who projected a longer period of continuous theological and scientific speculation through the 1230s and 1240s. The test-case for Southern was the treatise De luce which is assigned to 1235–1240 on the basis that the work contained Grosseteste’s ‘final view of the role of Light in the universe’ (Southern 1992). As Southern pointed out, this was only suggestive. The current weight of scholarly opinion places the De luce firmly in the mid-1220s (Panti 2013).
- 2.
‘fui clericus, deinde magister in theologia et presbiter; et tandem episcopus’. The Latin is taken from Sermo 31; the sermons are unedited, here Ginther uses: London, British Library MS Royal 7.E.ii, fol 344rb.
- 3.
The issues turn on, first, the question of whether Grosseteste could have learnt and taught theology as a deacon rather than as a priest: Southern insists on the priesthood, and a later date (1225) (Southern 1992); McEvoy and Eastwood dispute whether this was necessary (McEvoy 2000; Eastwood 1988). A masterly summary is provided by Joseph Goering (1995). The second question concerns the Chancellorship of the University at Oxford and regent master in theology, from 1214, or as Southern suggests, later in the 1220s (Callus 1955; Southern 1992; McEvoy 2000).
- 4.
A new edition of the shorter theological works is under preparation under the care of Pietro B. Rossi.
- 5.
Grosseteste (1982), is the modern critical edition. The history of earlier efforts to make a critical edition is recorded in Dales and Gieben (1968). Some extracts were printed by Dorothea Sharp before Gerald B. Phelan began a full critical edition in 1934 at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. The task passed to J. T. Muckle, at PIMS, who made a number of preliminary studies, before abandoning the project because of lack of funding.
- 6.
Jerome’s Letter 53, to Paulinus, dating from 394, was a defence of his translation of the Bible, and his letter to Desiderius, formed a preface to the Pentateuch (Jerome 1996). The Proemium is included in the extant manuscripts of the Hexaemeron containing the complete text, that is six of the seven, bar one. R. W. Southern suggested, however, that the Proemium was in fact a quite separate work for a separate audience, based on the content, in particular the more elementary nature of the grammatical questions addressed, concluding that, ‘The combination of the lectures on Jerome’s Introduction with the Hexaemeron appears to be a factitious union of two disparate works originally intended for different audiences’.
- 7.
‘Et quia posset quis dicere quod theologia esset sine instructore addiscibilis, tanquam scientia aliqua facilis, et precipue viro in secularibus literis excercitato, ostendit econtra, quomodo sacre Scripture sensus occultus sit et signatus; cuius non modicum difficilis sit auditus’. Unless otherwise indicated, all subsequent translation from the Hexaemeron follows that by Martin, with citation of the Dales and Gieben edition.
- 8.
‘Continet igitur in se hec scriptura totum quod continet natura, quia post mundi creacionem non est nove speciei seu nature adiectio. Continet eciam totum quod est supra naturam, quod videlicet est nostre reparacionis et future glorificacionis. Continet eciam totam moralitatem et totam scienciam racionalem. Ipse enim mundus archetipus est omnis rei racio et ars et regula et racionalis sciencia. In ipso est omnis causa subsistendi et racio intelligendi et ordo vivendi… Et cum in ista quisque invenerit omnia que utiliter alibi didicit, multo habundancius inveniet ea que nusquam omnino alibi sed in istius tantummodo scripture mirabili altitudine et mirabili humilitate discuntur’.
- 9.
‘Siquidem nihil utiliter ad salutem spiritualem praedicimus, quod sacra scriptura spiritus sancti miraculo foecundata non protulerit, aut intra se non contineat. Nam si quid ratione dicimus aliquando quod in dictis eius aperte monstrare aut ex ipsis probare nequimus: hoc modo per illam cognoscimus, utrum sit accipiendum aut respuendum. Si enim aperta ratione colligitur, et illa ex nulla parte contradicit—quoniam ipsa sicut nulli adversatur veritati, ita nulli favet falsitati - hoc ipso quia non negat quod ratione dicitur, eius auctoritate suscipitur. At si ipsa nostro sensui indubitanter repugnant: quamvis nobis ratio nostra videatur inexpugnabilis, nulla tamen veritate fulciri credenda est. Sic itaque sacra scriptura omnis veritatis quam ratio colligit auctoritatem continent, cum illam aut aperte affirmat aut nullatenus negat’.
- 10.
‘And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good [Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem, quam produxerant aquae in species suas, et omne volatile secundum genus suum. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum].’ All quotations from the Bible are from the Vulgate and Douay-Rheims translation.
- 11.
[In homine vero faciendo] quasi hiis utrisque maius aliquid insinuatur…’
- 12.
‘Unde noverit lector huius sciencie quod, donec sic possit exponere tam predicta quam ea que sequuntur, speculatur velud a longe distans qui subtilem sculpturam magno interiecto loci spacio contuetur, nec signatas apprehendit sculpture protracciones, nec distinguit sculpture varietate formatum a lingo rudi et informi’.
- 13.
A structural comparison could be made between Ambrose’s Exameron and his related homiletic surveys on Paradise and Cain and Abel and the boundaries of Grosseteste’s discussion.
- 14.
Anselm’s influence on Robert Grosseteste has been explored recently in Cooper (2012).
- 15.
‘Primum itaque verbum, videlicet: In principio, resonat temporis inicium, et mundum a temporis principio esse factum, et non esse ex parte anteriori interminatum et infinitum. Unde in hoc unico verbo quod dicit: In principio, elidit errorem philosophorum qui dixerunt mundum non habuisse temporis inicium, quemadmodum dixit et probare nisus est Aristotiles in octavo Physicorum; similiterPlatoin Thimeo inducit quondam qui infinitas inundaciones diluviorum asserit precesisse’.
- 16.
‘…et Aristotilem catholicum constituendo, se ipsos hereticos faciant.’
- 17.
‘Quod quam difficile factum sit et inexplicabile, nullum reor latere. Basilius itaque et Ambrosius, qui in explicandis naturis rerum singulis sex diebus creatarum desudaverunt, pro modo facultatis sue creatorum bonitatem exposuerunt, licet multis videatur quod magis ad ostentacionem pericie sue in naturis rerum talia conscripserunt’.
- 18.
‘Huius igitur anagogiam, que ex rebus creatis sursum ducit in raciones earum increatas eternas in mente divina, interpretari omitto quia interpretari nescio. Circa alias namque interpretaciones puer sum et non nisi balbuciendo loqui scio…’
- 19.
‘quae non simul, ut quibusdam sanctorum patrum placuit, sed per interualla temporum ac sex uolumina dierum, ut aliis uisum est, formauit’. Dist. 12.2 discusses the questions of simultaneous creation in more detail, with Augustine as a singular voice opposed to the view which is commended and preferred by Gregory, Jerome, Bede, and many others (Gasper 2014).
- 20.
Grosseteste raises but leaves unresolved the issue of successive days of creation. Where he favours Augustine it is with reference to the sight of angels rather than men.
- 21.
‘Sed nescio an aliqui veritatem invenerunt; aut si forte invenerunt, nescio an eorum aliqui se invenisse veritatem veraci et certa racione deprehenderint’.
- 22.
‘Volo autem scire lectorem quod si qua nonex auctenticis verbis scribendo intersero, non enunciativo modo eadem profero, sed exercicii loco auditoribus intimo, “coniecturis quibusdam atque indiciis veritatis persequens vestigia”.’ The text quoted is from De opificio hominis (Gregory of Nyssa 1855-1861, XVII.15), which would have been available to Grosseteste in the Latin translation by Dionysius Exiguus (c.470–c.544).
- 23.
This and the following paragraph draw heavily on Ginther’s magisterial exposition.
- 24.
‘De quo dicit Iob: Sapiencia vero ubi invenitur, et quis est locus intelligencie? nescit homo precium eius, nec invenitur, in terra suaviter vivencium. Abissus dicit: Non est in me, et mare loquitur: Non est mecum. . Trahitur autem sapiencia de occultis. Et: Abscondita est ab oculis omnium viventium’. Job, as Grosseteste and his listeners would have been fully aware, goes on to state: ‘God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven. Who made a weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure. When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms. Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it. And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding…’ [Job 28: 23–8]. ‘Deus intelligit viam ejus, et ipse novit locum illius. Ipse enim fines mundi intuetur, et omnia quae sub caelo sunt respicit. Qui fecit ventis pondus, et aquas appendit in mensura. Quando ponebat pluviis legem, et viam procellis sonantibus: Tunc vidit illam et enarravit, et praeparavit, et investigavit. Et dixit homini: Ecce timor Domini, ipsa est sapientia, et recedere a malo, intelligentia.’
- 25.
‘Species autem huius mundi, secundum quod nunc gubernantur, habent sensus et scientie certitudinem. Secundum ordinem vero quo creabantur, non accipiuntur primo nisi per fidem. Mundi igitur sensibilis creacio, per modum quo mundus ymaginabilis est et per corporis exteriores sensus apprehensibilis, in primordio huius scripture debuit enarrari, ut quivis eciam rudis huiusmodi narracionem facillime possit per ymaginacionem et rerum corporalium ymagines apprehendere, et per dicentis auctoritatem in fide firmare’.
- 26.
‘Imaginare itaque in mente artificis, artificii fiendi formam, utpote in mente architecti, formam et similitudinem domus fabricandae, ad quam formam et exemplar solummodo respicit, ut ad eius imitationem domum faciat. Et imaginare cum hoc per impossibile ipsius architecti volentis domum fabricare voluntatem ita potentem, quod se sola applicet, materiam formandam in domum formae in mente architecti, qua applicatione figuraretur in domum. Et imaginare cum his quod materia domus esset fluida, nec posset permanere in forma accepta in se, si esset separata a forma in mente architecti, sicut aqua figurata sigillo argenteo, separato sigillo, statim amitteret figuram receptam. Imaginare itaque voluntatem artificis applicantem materiam domus ad formam in mente architecti, non solum ut per hanc applicationem formetur in domum, sed etiam applicantem illam ei, quamdiu domus manet in esse, domus ut formata in esse servetur. Eo itaque modo quo forma huius, in mente huiusmodi architecti, esset forma domus, est ars, sive sapientia, sive verbum omnipotentis Dei, forma omnium creaturarum. Ipsa enim simul et exemplar est, et efficiens est, et formans est, et in forma data conservans est, dum ad ipsam applicantur et revocantur creaturae’; ‘So, imagine in the mind of a craftsman the form of an object to be crafted, as, for example, in the architect’s mind, the form and likeness of a house he is to build. It is on this form and archetype that he focuses exclusively so that he may build a house in imitation of it. And imagine along with this, despite the impossibility, the will of that architect who wants to build that house, a will so powerful that it could by itself apply to the form in his mind the material to be formed into the house, an action by which the material would be shaped into a house. And imagine along with these mental images that the house’s building material were liquid and incapable of remaining in the form it had received if separated from the form in the architect’s mind, just as water given a shape by a silver seal would, once the seal is taken away, immediately lose the shape it had received. So, imagine the will of the architect applying the building material of the house to the form in his mind not only so that by this action the material may be shaped into the house, but also applying it here as long as the house remains in existence as a house, so that the house thus formed may be kept in existence. In the same way, then, in which the form of this material in the mind of that architect would be the form of the house, the creative imagination or wisdom or the Word of the almighty God is the form of all creatures. For it is simultaneously creation’s archetype, and that which brings it about and imparts its form, and that which conserves it in the form it has been given, when creatures are brought into contact with it and recalled to it’. Goering and Mantello make clear the relation between their English translation and the edition (Grosseteste 2010).
- 27.
‘…qua coacti sunt ymaginari ante omne tempus aliud, sicut ymaginatur fantasia extra omnem locum locum alium, et extra omne spacium spacium aliud, et hoc usque in infinitum. Unde et huius erroris purgacio non potest esse nisi per hoc quod mentis affectus purgetur ad amore temporalium, ut mentis aspectus immunis a fantasmatibus possit transcendere tempus et intelligere simplicem eternitatem, ubi nulla est extensio secundum prius et posterius, et a qua procedit omne tempus et prius et posterius’.
- 28.
See above, note 2.
- 29.
‘Hec per se pulchra est, quia eius “natura simplex est sibique per omnia similis;” quapropter maxime unita, et ad se per equalitatem concordissime proporcionata. Proporcionum autem concordia pulcritudo est; quapropter eciam sine corporearum figuram armonica proporcione ipsa lux pulcra est et visui iocundissima’.
- 30.
‘scilicet quod Deus est forma et forma omnium; et cum sit forma, necessario est forma prima, quia ante ipsum nihil; ipse enim est primus et novissimus’.
- 31.
‘Cum enim omnia propter hominem sint, ut compleatur videlicet humana generacio usque ad complementum corporis Christi quod est ecclesia, motus celorum non erit nisi propter generacionem hominum et eorum que hic inferius ministrant homini’.
- 32.
‘Deus autem est omnia in omnibus, viventium vita, formosorum forma, speciosorum species; et homo in omnibus eius propinquissima similitudo imitatoria. Quapropter et homo, in hoc quod ipse est imago Dei, est quodammodo omnia’.
- 33.
‘Omnibus autem stellis eximia et maxima est pulcritudo corporalis, non propter compaginacionem membrorum que nulla sunt eis, sed propter letum alacremque fulgorem luminis, pulcriores que sunt in noctibus obscuris, quam in noctibus a luna lustratis; et stelle magne propter magnitudinem pulcriores sunt stellis parvis; et stelle separate et distincte, propter divisionem et distinctionem, pulcriores sunt stellis extensis et coniunctis; et pulcriores stellis galaxie, quemadmodum candele distincte sunt pulcriores igne. Fallunt tamen humanos visus estimacione quietis propter magnitudinem elongacionis sue a nobis. Comprehenduntur autem stelle a visu non recte, sed reflexe, ut ostenditur in perspectiva. Et quemadmodum res visa in aqua apparet maior quam sit propter reflexionem visus ad profundius aque, sic stelle in celo vise apparent minores propter reflexionem visus in pertransitu corporis celi ad minus profundum in corpore celi. Unde stelle habent duas causas quare apparent parve: elongacionem videlicet a visu, et reflexionem radiorum ad minus profundum celi’.
- 34.
‘Bonitas autem rei consistit in accione propter quam res specialiter facta est et eiusdem accionis utilitate, et in ordine eiusdem rei ad se et ad alia queque in universitate. Quapropter, singulorum operum singularum dierum bonitates exponere esset operum specialium singularum dierum speciales naturas, et naturales acciones et utilitates, et ordinis sui pulcritudinem in universe pretractare’. The argument here is proximate to Anselm’s on right behavior and uprightness of will, as explored in his De libertate arbitrii and on the truth of things, as explored in his Deveritate (Anselm 1946–1961a, b).
- 35.
‘Si igitur assumat Deus hominem in unitatem persone, reducta est universitas ad unitatis complementum. Si vero non assumat, nec universitas ad unitatis complementum sibi possibile deducta est. Circumscripto igitur hominis lapsu, nichilominus convenit Deu assumere hominem in unitate persone, cum et hoc possit facere nec dedeceat ispum hoc facere; sed multo magis deceat, cum sine hoc careat universitas unitate. Hoc vero facto, habeat universitas plenissimam et decentissimam unitatem, redacteque sint per hoc omnes nature in complementum circulare; quia sine eo quod Deus assumat hominem in unitatem persone, est reperire modo supradicto concatenacionem quandam ab angelo usque ad hominem’.
- 36.
‘Unde, cum omnia ad finem oporteat dirigere, ars exposicionis huius scripture est ut totum quod in ea invenitur significet ultimo aliquid de statu glorie, aut aliquid directe deducens in statum glorie, velud est fides, spes et karitas. Unde Basilius ait quod sermonum huius doctrine finis est non dicencium laus, sed discencium salus’. The Basil quotation is from I.1.2 (Basil 1958).
- 37.
‘Non pro eis rogo tantum, sed et pro eis qui credituri sunt per verbum eorum in me /Ut omnes unum sint, sicut tu Pater in me, et ego in te, ut et ipsi in nobis unum sint: ut credat mundus, quia tu me misisti’.
- 38.
‘Et sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur.’
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I should like to dedicate this article to Professor Joseph W. Goering on the occasion of his retirement, as a small contribution to the larger body of work which celebrates his role in, and guidance of, the history of the Middle Ages, and in particular that of Grosseteste. For my own part I am extremely grateful for the generosity of Joe’s scholarship, the precision of his editing and writing, and the sureness and soundness of his advice for all walks of life.
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Gasper, G.E.M. (2016). The Fulfillment of Science: Nature, Creation and Man in the Hexaemeron of Robert Grosseteste. In: Cunningham, J.P., Hocknull, M. (eds) Robert Grosseteste and the pursuit of Religious and Scientific Learning in the Middle Ages. Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33468-4_12
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